The Commonplace

It's about that time of year when you're starting school and possibly attending co-op. Even if you're not in a co-op, you've probably noted some needed habit training in your crew. This is a case study about my real-life habit training for co-op last year.

I'm grateful to report co-op is a smashing good time for all this year.

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like The Abolition of Man, Virtues and Vices, Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and How to Start a Classical Charlotte Mason Co-op!

It’s time to end season four but let’s talk about what’s next.

Season five, Feminine Soulcraft, begins in the Spring of 2025.

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 850+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like The Abolition of Man, Virtues and Vices, Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and How to Start a Classical Charlotte Mason Co-op!

I can’t leave this Latin question alone, can I? Our children are inheriting the richness of the Western tradition and the debt we owe to our Latin past is great. From history to theology, poetry to philosophy, we’re standing upon the shoulders of Latin writers. If all you’ve ever known of Latin instruction is terrified, bored students with a strict teacher, I think you’ll enjoy today. Get ready to catch the vision and answer the question: Does Latin form my children to move in the world in a better way?

I’m joined by Mrs. Angela Reed to discuss learning Latin through story; how children inhabit language, and the aliveness of Latin—even today.

Footnotes for this episode:

Athenaeum Amidst the Reeds | Angela’s Website

Angela’s Classes

The Charlotte Mason Latin Project | Angela’s Work

Angela’s Instagram

“Latin—the elegant tongue” | Charlotte Mason Poetry

Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin, Simmons

Lingua Latina per se Illustrata

Cambridge Latin Course

Oxford Latin Course

Lars Romam Odit, Olimpi

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

Stories from the History of Rome, Mrs. Beesly

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like The Abolition of Man, Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

One thing I rarely hear mentioned in the classical world is the need for re-reading great stories. Maybe it’s a fear of ruining our habit of attention or a symptom of our modern need to consume and move on, but we’ve missed something important when it comes to revisiting stories. So, let’s ask: How does re-reading change us as readers?

I’m joined by Laura E. Wolfe and Lisa Rose to discuss why it’s important we revisit stories, how revisiting makes us readers (instead of consumers), and what we can all learn from Charlotte Mason’s literary life.

Plus, we have our first ever baby guest.

Footnotes for this episode

Patterns for Life, Wolfe & Rose

Patterns for Life | Website

Patterns for Life | Substack

Patterns for Life | YouTube

Laura E. Wolfe

The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien

Harry Potter, Rowling

Diana Wynne Jones

Madeleine L’Engle

Christmas Day in the Morning, Buck

Sophie’s World, Gaarder

A Charlotte Mason Companion, Andreola

I and Thou, Buber

Wes Callihan’s Library Video

“The Thousand Good Books List”, Senior

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

Could we have a season about story without touching on my favourite storyteller, the great Jack Lewis? We could not.

Many of us know Lewis as the great author of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, or Til We Have Faces. Some of us know him as the everyman theologian who gave us the wartime addresses and Mere Christianity. But there’s a lesser-known third part to Lewis: the medievalist. A self-proclaimed dinosaur, Lewis’ mind was of another time and this is the secret reason for the richness of his stories. So, we should all be wondering: What is the medieval mind and how did Lewis form one?

I’m joined by Dr. Jason Baxter to discuss the medieval mind of C.S. Lewis and how his “breathing the Middle Ages” might be exactly what we need to regain our footing in a world enchanted with truth, goodness, and beauty.

Footnotes for this episode

The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, Jason Baxter

Dr. Baxter | Website

On Plato’s Timaeus, Calcidius

“Meditations in a Toolshed”, C.S. Lewis

“On Stories”, C.S. Lewis

“De Descriptione Temporum”, C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis

The Divine Comedy, Dante

“On Fairy-Stories”, J.R.R. Tolkien

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like The Abolition of Man, Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

It’s generally accepted that children need good stories. It’s not generally accepted that good stories are the most important thing read to children. We moderns think of fiction as a treat, a bonus, or an escape; it’s nice but certainly not something we have to require for school. This is why many new classical moms find themselves confused while looking over a book list of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and The Secret Garden for next term. If education is about the future, then we have a question: Shouldn’t I give my children real stories to prepare them for the real world?

I’m joined by Rachel Woodham to discuss how stories are a better preparation for Reality and why every mother-teacher should create her list of Reads of Requirement for her home.

Footnotes for this episode

Mudd and Sapphires | Substack

The Still Point | CiRCE Institute column

“Harry Potter, Read of Requirement”

“No Bottom: Delighting in Shakespeare with the Young”

Chance or the Dance?: A Critique of Modern Secularism, Thomas Howard

Til We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis

Brideshead Revisted, Evelyn Waugh

Everything Sad is Untrue, Daniel Nayeri

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

We know it’s important to consider the ideas we take in because they form us deeply, but have you ever considered how what you act out forms you just as deeply? The practices we choose to make habits (or the ones we unintentionally form as habits) shape the story we tell ourselves about God, ourselves, and our lives. So, we should all be asking: What practices help me tell a true, good, and beautiful Story to myself?

I’m joined by Tsh Oxenreider to discuss how our practices should aim at our telos, how the historic Church has practiced this, and some of our favourite practices to bring into your home.

Footnotes for this episode

The Commonplace | Tsh’s Substack

A Drink with a Friend | Tsh’s Podcast

Tsh’s Website | Books, Pilgrimages, Resources

Tsh’s Rule of Life Course

*First Light and Eventide* | Gratitude journal

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

Once upon a time. The words are an invitation into a world where virtue sparkles and vice is grotesque, and children love to inhabit such a place. But for the mom reading her first set of Grimm’s fairy tales, it’s a different story. They’re dark. There’s magic. Things get a little wild. If you’ve ever found yourself rewriting an old fairy tale on the fly because you weren’t sure it should be read aloud, you’re in good company. But when you’ve been told these are classical must-reads for young children, you have to ask: Why are fairy tales important?

I’m joined today by Dcn. Nicholas Kotar to discuss the tradition of and need for fairytales. If our hope, in classical education, is to conform our children’s souls to Reality, we need to teach them to see as things really are.

Footnotes for this episode

“Russian Orthodoxy, Fairy Tales, and Good Story Telling with Dcn. Nicholas Kotar” | Pints with Aquinas

Nicholas Kotar | Website

Nicholas Kotar | Patreon

In a Certain Kingdom: Fairy Tales of Old Russia

In a Certain Kingdom: Epic Heroes of Old Russia

Full book list

In a Certain Kingdom | Podcast

St. Basil’s Writers’ Workshop

Tending the Heart of Virtue, Vigen Guroian

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

Who hasn’t looked out over a sea of young children staring blankly out of the window and wondered if they’re paying attention? Who hasn’t considered explaining the story or the vocabulary to ensure the children really get it? Perhaps we need to reconsider how young children move and understand in God’s world so we can answer today’s question: Do my little kids even understand this story?

I’m joined by Mrs. Amanda Faus and Mrs. Brooke Johnson to discuss understanding in the early years by bringing together philosophy and practical realities with a heavy dose of humor and personal story.

Plus, they turn the mic on me and tell me I’m wrong.

Did I mention I called in my real friends for this one?

Footnotes for this episode

The Wonder Years | Podcast

The Wonder Years | Substack (Includes Wonder Tales series!)

Ep 07 Stories | The Wonder Years

Ep 05 How Littles Learn | The Wonder Years with Alec Bianco

An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Beauty in the Word, Stratford Caldecott

Book Girl, Sarah Clarkson

Risen Motherhood

Ep 07 | For King and Country!: The Mythic and Moral Imagination

Ep 08 | Tell Me A Story: An Interview with Emelie Thomas | Emelie’s Substack “Sacramental Stories”

Simply Convivial with Mystie Winkler

John Senior’s The Thousand Good Books List

Beatrix Potter

Paul Galdone Folk Tales

Everyman’s Aesop’s Fables

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!

Once you begin looking at curricula, it doesn’t take long to notice there’s a lot of overlap on the book lists. Homer. Plato. Plutarch. Dante. Milton. It can leave a mom wondering why we have to read these books in classical education. To get that answer, however, we have to ask a slightly different set of questions: Why do some stories last and why does that matter?

I’m joined today by Mr. Joshua Gibbs to discuss why loving stories that last—whether in book, music, or film—is a matter of the soul.

Footnotes for this episode

Gibbs Classical

Gibbs Classical: Classes

The Cedar Room | Josh’s column at the Circe Institute

Proverbial Podcast

Love What Lasts

How to Be Unlucky

Something They Will Not Forget

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You can find the full episode notes here (including my footnotes for this episode). You can leave the podcast a rating and review here. (I thank you!)

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Join the 800+ mother-teachers in Common House (It’s like a Patreon, but better.) where we think deeply and learn together through full courses, bonus minisodes, monthly Q+A video calls, resources, and more!

Right now, you can join a number of self-paced courses like Charlotte Mason Habits 101, and Virtues and Vices!